Sadly Over-hyped

it is finally so absorbing because it plays like a lyrical road odyssey that’s also a detective story.

A story that's too fascinating to pass by...

This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

Just like the phony and 1/4 truth "Birdman of Alcatraz", "I Want to Live" is Hollywood trying to preach to the simple citizen type Americans.I guess every generation needs to learn just how corrupt and political Hollywood is. They have no room to preach about Morals.Barbara Graham was not only was guilty of Murder by being involved in conspiring to rob Mabel Monohan, she personally murdered the elderly women. The Jury Says So!This is Hollywood's Statement on the horrors of the Death Penalty. I may agree with them, but lying to the American people and the world doesn't help. The Truth Will Out and you end up hurting the cause.Now to the movie, it is actually well done and Hayward certainly deserved her Academy Award. I have been a Simon Oakland fan all my life and this is very first. The other Reviewers covered the excellent acting and riveting ending.. Gripping is my word for the final 1/2hr.Just remember, Hollywood is filled with disgusting rotten people just like any other business. It is just when them businesses try and preach to Us simple folk how we should vote and causes we should support that they overstep. They Should best Keep Their Mouth Shut and just entertain us.

Times have certainly changed for the most part. The world of the 24/7 news cycle has led to constant coverage of news stories and murder tales in particular. When a suspect is announced we are presented non-stop with information about that person from their earliest moments until their capture. Many have an opinion on their guilt before they even go to trial. I would imagine it would make it difficult to find an impartial jury.I WANT TO LIVE is the true story of Barbara Graham, a woman whose life was far from perfect and filled with wrong choices early on and who was sentenced to death in the gas chamber in 1955. While the movie doesn't talk about her upbringing we find it opening with her as a party girl, a woman who lives life like there is no tomorrow. Within moments of the credits finishing she is arrested for prostitution. Not long after she finds herself convicted of perjury.Released from prison she's determined to go straight. She meets Henry, they marry and have a child. But Harry is a junkie, more concerned with drugs than his family. Faced with losing her home and her child Barbara returns to her old ways, working in card games helping cheat marks out of their money. She gets involved with two criminals only to be arrested alongside them by the police. The charge is murder.While we never see what transpired it seems that Barbara gained access for the group into the home of 64 year old Mabel Monohan, an elderly widow who supposedly had a large amount of cash on hand in her home. During the course of the robbery she was murdered. Now the men arrested place her death solely at the hands of Barbara.What follows is the back and forth in the story of Graham. We're presented with her love of her child, wanting him to grow up and to be there with him. We see the legal system as it does its best to ignore her upbringing and convict her on the evidence provided in seemingly unscrupulous ways (such as being set up by fellow inmate). The toll it takes on Graham as each appeal is built up and then lost is also on view.The highest amount of tension in the film takes place in the last 30 minutes or so as Barbara is about to head to the gas chamber. Each appeal sent is met with denial, and yet the appeals continue, the stays of execution continue and it isn't until the very last moment that we see Barbara Graham face the gas chamber on her own.The movie is played for sympathy towards the character of Barbara Graham while at the same time showing her as a semi-floozy, a woman of lose morals who likes a good party, a good time and cares little about answering for her actions. When she becomes a mother and attempts to lead a straight life, life once again throws her to the curb. All of this is done in an attempt to make us feel the death penalty was too harsh a judgement for Graham. This may end up making the movie one of the first activist films made involving that penalty.What it doesn't do is show us what happened to Mabel Monohan. The murder of Monohan is discussed but never shown. The pistol whipping of Monohan is discussed once and then ignored. The few criticisms of the movie since its release have involved that fact, that Graham was actually guilty of the murder of Monohan but that the film presented it as if there was a chance she didn't do it. Evidence presented then and gone over again since have proved otherwise.Director Robert Wise does a good job at telling the story of Graham in the way that the screenwriters wanted though. He gets great performances from all involved. This movie resulted in an Oscar win for Susan Hayward in the role of Graham. For myself I thought it was a bit overdone. That may be because the script calls for her to scream and rant far too often where a more subtle touch might have left me more sympathetic. Touches of stylistic efforts by Wise are also seen on hand and to be enjoyed. And the soundtrack should be a delight for fans of jazz music from the fifties, littered with notables from that time.Twilight Time has done their usual excellent job of producing the best picture you can find on blu-ray for this film. Extras are fairly limited here though to an isolated score track with audio commentary segment by Robert Wise associate Mike Matessino and the original theatrical trailer. As with all of their titles it is limited to just 3,000 copies on hand so if you're interested make sure to pick one up before they're gone.

There is little that I could add to the other reviews and, if you read them, most will attest to the power of "I Want to Live". This is a jarring, harrowing film from the acting to the jazz score. It is brutally honest in its sordid and ugly depictions of the seedier side of American life - the lowlifes, junkies, "goodtime girls", small-time crims and even a family man taking a walk on the wild side in the opening scene. The preparations and procedures related to capital punishment are even more chillingly depicted than those of "In Cold Blood". The camera angles and the jazz score add to the uncomfortable and off-kilter events of this other world that most of us know about and sometimes visit but do not inhabit. Lastly, Susan Hayward's performance is shattering. "I Want to Live" is a once seen never forgotten experience.

After watching "The Green Mile", "Monsters Ball", and "Dead Man Walking" I was pretty much convinced that Capital Punishment is beyond evolved societies. This film supported my belief only during the final moments that illustrated very precisely how to prepare a gas chamber for a death sentence. Fascinating, but looks like a decent way to go vs Chemo/Radiation for years.I am not a fan of Hayward and her histrionic performance did not lend well to portraying an innocent woman. The incessant cacophony of avant garde jazz only distracted from the capture of a fallen woman who went way astray in life. I know there are innocents in prison, on death row, etc., but this one-sided operation annoyed me more than instigate sympathy.I cannot recommend this film due to the poor performance of Hayward who supposedly was not a heroin addict but surely acted like one. Too many elements of the film were incongruous. With the strong emphasis on how this is based on actual facts, letters, discussions by a newspaper sensationalist headliner only debased the content vs enhance.If you are on the fence about the Death Penaly watch the three films aforementioned.